Changes
by Takhrenixe
Summary: "Everything has changed, especially you." A very short conversation between Sonic and Shadow atop a rain-soaked hill. God that's so cliche. x x Please relax, read and review! -


**Changes, a Sonic the Hedgehog fanfic**

**Pairing - Implied, meaning you're supposed to figure it out.**

**Rating - K+ for two minor cursewords**

**Genre - (attempted) Hurt/Comfort**

**Summary - I never thought I'd have to do this. I never thought the roles would be reversed.**

**WARNING: Minor to major probable OOCness ahead. And if it isn't, well, kudos to me, cuz I think it is. :X**

_**Changes**_

_**by Takhrenixe**_

I hate this.

It's ironic and it's sick, and it isn't you, and I hate it.

I hate what you've become, and I hate that whatever I try, it doesn't do a thing to put you back to who you were before. And I hate myself for not being able to save you; I hate myself for hating you.

I _hate_ hating you. But lately you've left me with little if any other choices.

I've been trying for hours. Weeks. _Months_. Why won't you tell me? I'll sit out here with you in the rain for as long as I have to, but I need to know!

..._Why_ are you even _out_ here?

"So how's life?"

"Fine."

"Is there something wrong?"

No answer. It seems that question is always doomed to a be unanswerable.

"Anything I can do to help?" Chaos, _how_ many times have said this? Hundreds? Thousands? I don't even know why I bother anymore. You don't listen, you never do.

"Staple your mouth shut."

"Touchy."

"Arrogant."

"Loner."

"Attention whore."

"Faker."

"Hypocrite."

I smile, sadly. A mere shadow of past fights and skirmishes. You used to love the challenge, offended and even hurt that anyone would dare hold themselves higher than you.

What happened to that? Does _anything_ affect you anymore?

"You're different."

"You're one to talk."

"Different in a bad way."

A year ago, you would have rolled your eyes, assured me that you weren't. Bull.

Apparently you think it unnecessary to grant me that small kindness, however false.

"What's the matter?" I prod, "Run out of sarcastic comebacks?"

Provocation has worked like a charm since the second I met you. It was the very _basis _of our meeting each other, a key part in the fabric of our lives. You thrive on it.

Or, at least, you used to.

"I am not interested in childish retaliation."

"That's a lot coming from you."

"More than you can say for yourself."

"Touche." I sigh heavily, leaning back against the tree we sit under and again wondering why I'm still here talking to you. "You win."

"Really. Do I."

I can practically hear the venom dripping from your fangs as you whisper that.

Was it something I said?

You don't wait for my questioning look to reach your eyes; you I both know you would never bother to notice.

Or bear to. I'm still trying to figure out which.

"Ironic that the only time I win is when being better than you no longer matters to me. I suppose I should feel proud."

Your voice screams anything and everything but pride.

This is the most you've spoken at all in over a year. Are you trying to tell me something? Have you had enough of the Chaos-damned _silence_? Please!

You turn your head and stare at me, and I cannot read your eyes. They are empty, soulless, the kind you need only take a passing glance at and know they were once aflame with passion, love, loyalty and determination, but no longer. _One _of a kind.

It's been ages since you looked at me. I miss it, I miss being the focus of your intense gaze, whatever the cause of that intensity may be. I miss _you_.

And you never seem to know. Or could you have always known?

"Please tell me. Why do you act this way? I could help you."

A harsh scoff passes your lips, grating against my ears like sandpaper. Worse even.

...I hate your voice now. You don't even _sound_ like you anymore.

"It's not your problem and you can't give me the solution. I don't need any help from you. You've done _more _than enough, so _stop asking me that._"

It seems you can only talk in riddles these days, more misleading every time. You've strayed so far from who you used to be I've often wondered if it would even be possible for you to go back.

I wish you would just drop the walls around yourself and let me in...but I know that that feat is far off, if achievable at all. I know, because that has been my mission for the longest of times...and I have yet to succeed. I think about what you said, and it doesn't make any sense to me.  
But then I remember the way you looked at me when you said it.

You had a longing gleam in your eye, as if the 'solution' you spoke of was right in front of you and you wanted nothing in this world more than to grab it, but couldn't...

The breath is knocked out of me as I understand.

"Are you this way...because of me?"

The emptiness in your eyes falters and cracks, and I can almost see the fractures as they spread, dull, murky clouds of lifeless jade giving way to the sunlight that shone in your soul for so long before being shut away in unexplained sorrow.

I finally broke through the cold, harsh exterior. I can finally see the real _you_.

For an instant that stretches into eternity, your eyes slice into me and you open your mouth to say something but close it, sealing yourself away.

What would you have said?

A gust of wind, a near-invisible flash in the surrounding night, and suddenly I'm alone.

The tears fall as the rain.

END

(A/N): As I'm sure there's bound to be someone out there in the FanFiction world that is utterly clueless about the oneshot I just wrote, here's a heads up. This was in _Shadow's_ point of view. Not Sonic's. Sonic is the one that's all depressed and morbid and stuff.  
I cannot begin to count how many fics I've seen where Shadow is being emo and Sonic shoves himself into the Ultimate Lifeform's personal space and tries to cheer him up. So many people have written this (no offense if you have, this is just my opinion), that that certain scenario has become cliche, stereotypical and more than a bit overused. So, I shook things up a bit and switched their ROLES. Hence the summary.

-is shot for being so confusing and vague- :X

PS - If you squint really hard, and use an electron microscope, this could be seen as Sonadow. To be honest, the whole reason Sonic's being depressed here is because of Shadow. But I'm not saying why. (If you seriously want to know, though, you can PM me or leave a review.)  
-_- I'm a Sonadow obssessor so I was quite satisfied with this, but I think I'm mostly proud of it because it can be taken either way. ^-^

If you took the time out of your FanFiction-filled day to read my fic, and were patient enough to read all the way through the Author's Note  
(I commend you for this because I think I started rambling a bit), then surely it wouldn't be too much more trouble to leave a review? Please? Just click the button right below here that says "Review the Story" and has a little thought bubble next to it. Thanks muchly! 8D

Signing off for now,  
-Nixi


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